


Give Me Life

by Desparado



Category: The Witcher (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:42:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22978567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Desparado/pseuds/Desparado
Summary: When Geralt comes back from a hunt more silent than normal; you know something is wrong. You get him to open up and find more than you expected.Based on a tumblr prompt.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 105





	Give Me Life

**Author's Note:**

> Characters: Geralt x healer!reader; Jaskier; Roach  
> Warnings: Sad!Geralt; blood/wounds; mentions of death and losing loved ones; happy ending though cause it’s what everyone deserves.

“Yeah well maybe you should write a song about me!” You shouted through the window, busy preparing herbs and ointments ready for Geralt’s return. It was lucky this cabin was here: you were low on stocks and it was close to the location of a murderous ghoul. The owner had long since been gone, evident from the cobwebs and dusty surfaces. “I know I’m not as exciting as Geralt but you gentlemen would be truly stuffed without me!” You called out to Jaskier again as he was hanging out clean, wet clothes in the early morning sun. He laughed at your comment,  
“I mean I wouldn’t say ‘stuffed’ but…” his voice trailed off. You looked up, wondering why he hadn’t finished his sentence.  
Emerging from the forest, Geralt was walking alongside Roach and seemed to be limping. You quickly dried your hands on a rag, stepped through the open door and out towards him. Jaskier was already by Geralt’s side, you frowned as you noticed no smile on Jaskier’s face. His brows were furrowed then suddenly widened as Geralt embraced the bard, his back to you. You held your hands up in confusion as you looked at Jaskier, who was just as puzzled. Walking towards them, you called Geralt’s name. He seemed to flinch at your voice and released Jask, turning to you. He stepped closer so you were face-to-face, your eyes scanning his features for signs of what was wrong. You lifted your hand to reach for his face but he moved his head away, only taking your hand in his, kissing it as if it were fractured glass, then letting go and walking past you into the cabin.  
Watching him, took Roach’s reins and led her to some water and hay. “What’s wrong with him?” You asked Jaskier. He shrugged and glanced at you.  
“I haven’t a clue. He just said, ‘I’m sorry’ then hugged me.”  
“Hmm.” You responded. Although you couldn’t read minds nor emotions, it didn’t take a mage to know that something bad happened. You’d heard rumours of ghouls that could show your saddest memories, your darkest fears; but surely Geralt wouldn’t be susceptible to that… would he?  
“I’ll talk to him.” You finally said, tying up Roach and stroking her gently on her nose.  
“And I’ll… go fetch some… wood.” Jaskier replied.

The cabin was silent as you entered. The main room empty. Grabbing your herbs and newly brewed potions, you walked towards the sleeping quarters and found your Witcher sat on the edge of the bed, wincing as he slowly ripped open his trousers at the knee. Without speaking, you walked over and knelt down in front of him, moving his hand out of the way so you could help. Slicing away the ripped material revealed a large claw like wound on his left thigh, swollen and bleeding just above the knee. You sighed in pity, reaching for a clean dry cloth to soak up the blood, but Geralt grabbed your wrist. Looking up at him for answer, he didn’t meet your eyes, but released you and stood up, ambling to the sink at the end of the room. Stunned by the rejection of your help, you stayed knelt and followed him with your eyes. “Geralt?” You called again, apparently starling him as he froze in place. Unhappy being met with silence again, you marched over to him and swooped under his arm to be stood between him and the sink, the close proximity causing both your breaths to momentarily falter. “Geralt, what’s wrong?” You enquired, holding him with your eyes, the fire in his irises dull and smouldering. “I’m fine.” He whispered bluntly, offering you a flash of a smile, the eyes remaining unchanged. He tried to move around you but you stood in front of him again, arms folded. “You’re not fine.”  
“Are you telling me?” The poison in his voice seeped into you. It hurt to hear him speak so harshly to you.  
“Yes. You can’t go on like this, saying you’re fine when you’re clearly not.” He went to move away from you but you grabbed his face and turned it back to you, keeping your hands on his cheeks. “You do this almost every time, Geralt. Don’t you understand it breaks me inside?” Your voice faltered slightly with those last words. A wave of emotion was growing in your stomach and you tried hard to keep it from overflowing. Though he never seemed to know it, you cared deeply for this man with all your heart… maybe even loved him. As you pleaded silently for an answer whilst he scanned your eyes, you noticed the dull amber in his become glossier. “I’m sorry.” He breathed before burying his face in your shoulder. You wrapped your arms around his neck, brushing his hair with your fingertips. Despite being much taller than you, this was the smallest he had ever appeared. You stayed like that for what felt like only moments before he stood up straight and apologised again. You smiled and wiped away from under his eyes any evidence of ‘Witchers having emotions’. “Let me help you.” You offered. 

The time you spent cleaning his wounds was in silence. You used a clean cloth to soak up the blood then poured healing solution onto his cuts. He grimaced at the pain, but said nothing, only flickering his gaze from your face to your hands and back again. As the skin began to heal, you used freshly cleaned cloths to bandage them. Starting with his hands, you would always massage the palm and in between the knuckles when they were dressed. You saved the largest wound for last, your fingertips gently gracing around his thigh as you wrapped it up. Despite having done this many times, it still took all of your concentration to stop your hands from shaking, you felt heat rushing to your cheeks and wondered if he noticed. After you finished, you gathered the bloody cloths and washed them in the sink. It seemed that Geralt had been thinking of how to explain his ordeal this whole time before deciding to just come out with it. “It was the ghoul.” He stated. His voice made you jump but luckily, he didn’t notice.  
“Oh?” you questioned, continuing what you were doing.  
“It told me everyone I cared about would die.”  
“Ah the classic; how unoriginal.” You remarked as you left the cloths in soak and turned to face Geralt, surprised by the grief on his face.  
“It… showed me.” He muttered. You sat beside him on the bed and took his hand in yours.  
“Showed you what?”  
At this point Geralt explained what happened. How he had been following the ghoul into a cave when it turned on him. How it showed him Jaskier being ripped apart by a kikimora as he cried out Geralt’s name. How it then showed the creature turning on Roach and eating her. As you listened patiently, Geralt finally revealed the last thing it showed him. The vision was you in a field, laughing and waving at him. As he moved closer, you suddenly stopped, blood dripping from your lips. You fell to the ground and that’s when he noticed the blood-soaked knife in his own hand. Watching you grip your side and howl in the pain, the ghoul’s voice taunted him, saying he would one day kill the very thing that gives him life. “… then I killed the creature. I had to wait a few hours before I could bring myself to come back down here.” He confessed. You considered everything he had said to you, admittedly it made your heart race to think of him killing you, even if it wasn’t true. You realised your silence was unsettling Geralt as he began to remove his hand from yours, “So,” you began, sighing deeply and turning to face Geralt with a smile on your face. “I give you life, do I?” You wiggled your eyebrows and was shocked when he laughed at you.   
“Really? That was your takeaway from all of that?”  
“Yeah well, Jaskier would never go within 100 feet of a swamp, Roach is too smart to stay in the same place as a man who just got eaten… and I’m too quick and powerful for you to kill.” Your matter-of-fact statement made him laugh again, a sound so rare and wonderful you would do anything to keep hearing it. You turned your body towards him fully, he matched you and watched your lips as you spoke. “What I’m saying is: dark creatures have dark ways of getting in your head, but that doesn’t mean any of it is true. If something tragic was going to happen, it would have done so by now don’t you think? So don’t you dare contemplate what that ghoul showed you anymore- it wasn’t real and it doesn’t mean anything.” You hoped you had sounded as sincere as you had intended, you couldn’t bear the thought of him feeling guilty over something that never happened. Geralt tilted his head and a genuine smile grew on his face, his amber eyes beginning to burn once more. “Thank you,” He kissed your hand delicately, “You really do give me life.”  
“I know, it’s my powerful aura- but don’t let it intimidate you.” You winked at him in an attempt to ignore the blush that was creeping up your neck. He ‘hmmed’ at your response and brushed a stray hair from out of your eyes. He let his fingers stroke the side of your face until it cupped your cheek. Your heart dropped to your stomach as you wondered what he was doing, partly hoping it was what you thought it was. He stared intensely at you, yet his features were soft, glancing from your eyes to your lips. You noticed this and swallowed hard. In that moment you both heard various thumps and yelled curse words from what you assume was the kitchen. Having guessed Jaskier had either fallen or dropped the collected wood, you snapped yourself out of your trance and got up from the bed.  
By the time you reached the door, Geralt silently came from behind and turned you, gently pressed you against the door, his lips a breath away from yours. Desire replaced oxygen in your body and you placed your hands either side of his face and pulled him in for a long-awaited kiss. You both couldn’t get any closer as you enveloped each other. His lips felt like crushed velvet from days in the sun, but he treated yours like silk, ghosting his tongue across your parted lips when he felt brave enough to. He held onto you like a buoy at sea as he allowed himself to dive fully into the kiss- all passion and need- the fear of losing you drifting away. As the wave of lust washed over you both, your lips parted and you both stared into each other’s eyes, seeing yourselves for the first time in a new light. Without a word, Geralt pressed his forehead against yours and breathed you in, before stepping back. You pushed yourself off the door, shook away your daze and left the room to find an exasperated Jaskier picking up logs from the floor and piling them up. “What took you so long?” He shouted as you chuckled and knelt down to help him.


End file.
